Too many car ads
When my subscription to The Monitor came due a few weeks ago, I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to renew or not, but I did. I’ve lived in the Valley since 1989 and have always read The Monitor. The Dec. 28 to 29 editions, however, in the front A section contained eight pages of automobile dealer ads and nine pages of news. Needless to say, I was a bit upset. I take the paper to get local and national news, but not page after page of ads. Flyers I don’t mind, because I can discard them first. Maybe other people feel the same as I do. I love living in the Valley and would not leave for anything! That is why I am still here!
Nancy McKay, Mission
Tribute to a mentor
A year ago on Jan 10, McAllen lost a great lady to a terrible accident in her home. I lost my teacher, my mentor and a friend — Jeanette R. Hawkins. As of yet, I have not accepted her loss, so I wish to share this thought with you. A few months before her accident I was able to express my gratitude towards her and what she meant to me. As my teacher at Pan American College in 1968, Mrs. Hawkins taught me the skills I used for the next 50 years as a physical education teacher in Brownsville. As my mentor, she assisted and guided me in my professional and personal life, and as a friend, we shared many happy memories. All this dwells in my mind until I meet her again. I find myself saying, “If only I had ….” but that is a “woulda, coulda, shoulda” situation that you should not find yourself. Use the many opportunities you have to express your feelings, emotions and gratitude while it still makes a difference to your loved one. Do not “assume” that they already know this. I encourage you to open up your heart to those who are a part of your life and have led you in the right direction — many of them your teachers. I also wish to express to her two girls that they are as special to me as their mom was and that I am sure Jeanette would have urged us to go on, as a tribute to her.
Judi ‘J. Rod’ Rodriguez, Brownsville
